


excerpt: hope's peak archives

by mayormadeleinerobin



Category: Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Ableism Mention, Gen, Magnus Archives AU, child abuse mention, child neglect mention, komaeda has ocd
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-29
Updated: 2020-04-29
Packaged: 2021-03-01 21:55:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23914177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mayormadeleinerobin/pseuds/mayormadeleinerobin
Summary: Komaeda has told Kyouko that they're not what they seem. She records a statement from them (at their insistence) for her archival duties.
Relationships: Kirigiri Kyoko & Komaeda Nagito
Kudos: 10





	excerpt: hope's peak archives

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is my first work for like...all of these fandoms, haha. 
> 
> Warnings explained further: Komaeda's parents were neglectful and abusive, as well as ableist. He also finds people who abuse children to kill, though all of that is only implied. 
> 
> Shoutout to my beloved pals Sable and Nori, for getting me into TMA/Danganronpa respectively.
> 
> Also if anyone has any better formatting ideas let me know, I tried to stick with something like the unofficial transcripts but I haven't used AO3 for a hot minute, let alone for something this format.

KIRIGIRI:

So you’re the one who opened that door, Komaeda. I knew you were tied to an Entity. I didn’t think it would be the Spiral, though.

KOMAEDA:

Because of the whole...

KIRIGIRI:

Because you literally have never lied to me once. 

KOMAEDA:

Kyouko, you’re so powerful already! That’s so exciting...

KIRIGIRI:

It’s not hard to tell when someone is lying, in general. I’m sure you could do it if you put a little effort into it. You’ve solved enough with... _ for _ us. 

KOMAEDA:

Would you like to know how this happened? How I became the Distortion?  


KIRIGIRI:

Do you have to ask?

KOMAEDA:

I’m just being formal...oh! Oh, can I say it? Can I say it?

KIRIGIRI:

Sure. I’ll never have an avatar this excited to give me a statement again.

KOMAEDA:

Don’t call me that. 

KIRIGIRI:

Why?

KOMAEDA:

It implies that the Spiral had more...this is so embarrassing. (They sigh) Statement of Komaeda Nagito, recorded from the subject. Date...I genuinely have no sense of time anymore.

KIRIGIRI:

I’ll add it later. Just keep going.

KOMAEDA:

Oh...okay! Well, in my defense...uh, in the Spiral’s defense, it really seemed like we had this one. 

KIRIGIRI:

Keep going.

KOMAEDA:

Fine. So. Nagito was born to a really rich family...I mean, I genuinely have never had this much currency in my direct control. You’d think that would make things easy for him - and in a way, it did. He never died from the many things that ought to have killed him. His family was always  _ just _ in time to get him medical treatment. He thought he was lucky. I wasn’t, I was just so  _ desperate _ for...

_ (They clear their throat and laugh weakly) _

He. Was just so desperate for any love...but he knew that his parents could have had him healed so much sooner. He never had to suffer, but he did. And he knew why! He knew it’s because they wanted a child for an heir and...ah, please pardon my bluntness - breeding stock. But they didn’t like how he turned out! No, he wasn’t the perfect child they had always wanted. 

_ (They laugh again. Their voice grows shaky over the course of this part.) _

Well, not perfect for them. Perfect for  _ us _ . Anyway...he couldn’t trust them. They didn’t love him. And poor Nagito had trouble fitting in at school, too - as I said, he didn’t turn out like a normal kid, though how could he? The trauma just...compounded though. Over and over, things would just...go wrong, and no one would help, so they’d get worse and worse.

_ (They suddenly sound clearer, like they’ve come together.) _

On top of it all, he started to lose control. Now, we’re.... _ he was _ so into control I almost wouldn’t have tried to touch him. I would have thought he’d be the Web’s immediately. But no. You see, Nagito couldn’t trust his own mind, not anymore. He kept thinking about things that upset him - over and over, every day. Of course he tried to stop it. He tried to think of something else - didn’t work. Tried to drink water to  _ clean himself _ after the thoughts - worked a little, but ended up making it worse. You get where I’m going with this, right?

It should have been easy work. I mean! You’d think we were already connected! It had gotten tied up in our morality - in his morality too. All he could rely on was his own hope and optimism. So he decided hope was the ultimate good, the most  _ moral _ thing, too...it was an easy exploit, if you will. And he hated lying, so the Distortion thought it would be  _ fun _ , to whatever end it could feel that itself before me - before.

_ (They sigh) _

I, as the Distortion alone, just had to give him false hope...and I thought I did. Nagito was thirteen, and left alone on vacation by his parents. He really wanted to go back to the hotel. Who leaves a kid that pale and sickly in the sun alone, all day? 

_ (They clear their throat - it’s obviously artificial) _

God. You can see how we’re bleeding into each other with this. I can hardly not talk about this as my own past. So...so maybe I just will, if that’s okay.

KIRIGIRI:

As long as you tell your story, I doubt it matters. Just do what feels right. I’ll be here for you.

KOMAEDA:

You’re wasted on this place.

KIRIGIRI:

Thanks. Continue, though.

KOMAEDA:

As you wish. I placed a door near him. Now, it was so obviously not there before. He wasn’t unobservant. He knew exactly what had been there before, and he knew this was not a door to where he thought he needed to go. But it was where he wanted to go, and it had to at least be inside, right?

_ (They laugh, sounding almost out of control) _

Well! Not wrong! You’ve gone through one of my doors, so...ah, sorry, this isn’t about you. I always want to talk about other people now and not myself, I’m even doing that with this statement. But it’s time I admit that we have become part of each other, and have changed each other. Which of us took the other’s name, the other’s nature? So, I’ll go on, acknowledging that. Perhaps then my mistakes will be more understandable. 

You see, I thought it would be so much easier to get him lost and miserable than it was. The Distortion expected him to come in with a lot of optimism, a lot of hope, thought it was going to crumble so soon. He only glanced back at the door...we thought we’d had him. Just more food for the Spiral, basically.

That’s not how it went. Nagito just started walking inside. He was so  _ happy _ , so peaceful. Never had anyone  _ enjoy  _ the challenge of the maze of the inside of the Distortion like that. Never had anyone just...intuit how to get through. He knew to break mirrors, somehow. When the Distortion tried to mislead him with sound, he took out his hearing aids subtly, and called out the lies  _ directly _ . When the passages changed in front of his eyes, he closed his eyes and walked on. The Distortion got desperate itself, more than he did.

He reached the center. The Distortion just couldn’t stop him...but truth be told, I don’t think it wanted to. I don’t think he wanted to stop, either...I think I was inevitable. I think I was  _ wanted  _ for once...it was my time. It’s nice, you know...to really feel like I’m a whole being? Like I’m part of something. I took my fear, and I embraced it, and I made it my strength. I made it powerful. I made these emotions and this body powerful, and I made this maze actually work its job. I also had new ways to help, to-

Sorry, sorry! That’s off topic for now! So, he reached the center of the Distortion, and it told him that he was trapped for sure now. He was in the center. He could not escape it.

Do you know what he said? What his last words before becoming me were? “You’re the one who can’t escape me.” He was right. I’m bound more to his ethics and morality than I was bound to those constructs before. I feel more...even genuine affection for you all, not mere curiosity. I love you, and all our friends. I know that’s what this is. And...I love myself. I can finally be powerful. I can finally be helpful. I can really, truly do anything now. 

Is that all?

KIRIGIRI: 

You mention his morals. How can you live with having to trap other people to survive?

KOMAEDA:

Oh. It’s easy to find people who harm others...people who are malicious, people who try to wield fear for all the wrong reasons, and do it poorly. His parents were a nice initial meal...though at the time, he didn’t realize what it was. I know now, though. I have to take someone new every four weeks. It’s unbearable otherwise. So I go out, and I find someone who tries to hurt me or take advantage of me. Or someone who's hurting their own children. It’s not like they’re going to think someone as naive and innocent as I am would show them the wrong door.  


KIRIGIRI:

So that’s how you do it.

KOMAEDA:

It’s not even the wrong door...it’s barely even a lie anymore. This is mutually beneficial, though, so I’m not going to try to change my nature again. I quite like this new arrangement. I’ve even been able to feel fear, myself. Imagine that...getting to know what other people have felt all these years.

KIRIGIRI:

Does the fear feel any different? I’m sure Nagito would have described it as unpleasant, the Distortion, however -

KOMAEDA:

It’s both. Things are complicated for me, now. But aren’t they complicated for you, too?

KIRIGIRI:

I don’t have to answer that.

KOMAEDA:

Sure. Right. ...Anyway. While I can’t know, I feel as though we’re both having some  _ unusual _ experiences trying to merge our human and Entity parts. Well, I know you’re not going to be in the mood to talk about that now...but come see me when you are! I’ll help you. I’ll  _ always _ be helpful to you. That’s what friends are for.

KIRIGIRI:

We’re friends now, are we...well, I’m okay with that. Thank you, Komaeda. You can end your statement now. 

KOMAEDA:

Oh...thank you! Ah, I haven’t heard you end them a lot because you usually kick me out, but I think it’s just. End recording. 

_ (They leave. Kyouko does end the recording here.) _


End file.
